Denounce the State Terrorism by US Imperialism against Venezuela!

Japan Revolutionary Communist League (Revolutionary Marxist Faction)

 (1)

 In the early hours of January 3rd, US special forces, under order from US President Donald Trump, raided Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, and abducted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, taking them to New York. The US military and the CIA first destroyed the air defense system with airstrikes, using more than 150 fighter jets and bombers, and plunged the centre of the capital into a blackout with cyberattacks. They then sent in special units such as Delta Force, killing 100 of the presidential guard, and captured the two.

This military attack, carried out by the Trump administration under the pretext of ‘arresting drug dealers’, is nothing less than an act of state terrorism by the militarist empire of America. We denounce this barbarity of Trump’s empire thorough and thorough.

With vaulting arrogance, Trump declares: ‘We will run Venezuela for the time being’, ‘The entire Western Hemisphere is now far safer than ever before’, ‘This is our Hemisphere’, and ‘We will control sales of crude oil produced in Venezuela’. Further, he intimidated Delcy Rodríguez, who became the interim president after Maduro’s demise by saying, ‘If you don’t obey us, we will launch another attack’, thus forcing her to pledge ‘cooperation with the US’.

What is the purpose of the Trump administration in carrying out such an armed attack on Venezuela at this time?

First, based on his ambition to make the Western Hemisphere (i.e. North and South America) the US’s sphere of influence - an ambition he designates as ‘Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine’ - he aims to overthrow this staunchly anti-US (and pro-Chinese, pro-Russian) regime in Latin America, which Trump considers to be ‘America’s backyard’, and to remake this state into a US’s ‘vassal state’.

Second, he aims to plunder Venezuela’s oil resources, which boast the world’s largest reserves. Trump claims that Venezuela’s crude oil was originally developed by the United States and that he is taking back what was stolen. By seizing control of this country’s oil resources, he at the same time wants to deal a blow to China, which is its largest export destination, and to cut off the supply to Cuba, which has totally relied on Venezuelan oil for its energy sources.

It is in order to advance such imperialist interests that Trump the self-proclaimed King attacked the anti-US state of Venezuela and is trying to subjugate Venezuelan people effectively under a colonial rule.

We denounce the Trump administration’s undisguised scheme to plunder natural resources and to impose an imperialist rule!

We appeal to you, Venezuelan people. You, Venezuelan workers and people, have been resisting harsh oppression by the Maduro regime. Now is the time to solidify your working-class unity and fight against the aggression by the Trump empire!

(2)

The Trump administration’s military attack on Venezuela is based on his imperialist ambition to eliminate China’s and Russia’s footings and their concessions from the Western Hemisphere (the Americas) and to seize and secure this Hemisphere as the US empire’s inviolable ‘sphere of influence’. Trump himself is advocating it as ‘Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine’ or ‘Donroe Doctrine’.

‘We will deny non-Hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities, or to own or control strategically vital assets, in our Hemisphere’ (National Security Strategy of the USA) -  The military attack on Venezuela is a violent implementation of such a strategy.

Concurrently with this attack, the Trump administration again brazenly expressed its intention to seize Greenland for the United States. It is now threatening the Danish government by saying that the use of US forces is an option. Greenland is not only crucial for military activities and maritime transport in the Arctic Ocean; it is also rich in underground deposits of rare earth minerals, which make up the second largest after China. In order to cope with China’s ‘weaponization’ of rare earth minerals, Trump is about to go ahead with the plundering of Greenland, even at the risk of damaging US’s relations with Denmark, an ally.

The same attitude is taken towards Panama - the home of the Panama Canal - which has been drawing closer to China. Now, in the same way as against Venezuela, Trump is brandishing the ‘strength’ of atrocious state terrorism to subjugate and enslave Latin American countries, including Columbia, Panama, Mexico and Cuba.

This act of barbarity perpetrated by the Trump empire under the banner of neo-Monroeism is nothing short of the death throes of the militarist empire of America, which has committed all possible atrocities around the world, has long been slipping down the steep slope of decline, and has now been driven into a corner, where it is in danger of losing world hegemony to neo-Stalinist China.

(3)

The military attack on Venezuela by the Trump empire has brought about a drastic change in the power relationships in the contemporary world.

The Vladimir Putin regime is not a little shocked to see South America’s number-one pro-Russian government being brought down. Yet, while uttering things like ‘The United States has now nothing to reproach Russia for’ (Dmitry Medvedev), this regime is manoeuvring for a new ‘deal’ with Trump on the Ukrainian issue.

The Xi Jinping regime condemned the act of barbarity of the US as a ‘violation of the principles of the UN Charter’; it is stepping up its efforts to band together powerful figures from Global South countries, who are opposed to the Trump administration. This is not all. The more the Trump administration rushes forward with its naked intention to place the Western Hemisphere under American domination, the more the Xi regime takes countermeasures against it, and at the same time, seeks for ‘habitat segregation’, that is, it is strengthening its move to secure East Asia and the Western Pacific as its own ‘sphere of influence’. In this way, it is intending to build a system that will reject any intervention by the US (and Japan) in its annexation of Taiwan .

Thus, today, a new phase of ‘deepening darkness enfolding the world’ is being created, in which those nuclear-armed military powers - the United States, China and Russia - are building and expanding their respective ‘spheres of influence’ against each other while trampling on and dominating lesser countries in their respective regions by using armed forces. What forms its starting point is Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, launched in February 2022.

Politically, we see the rampancy of authoritarian politics that totally reject bourgeois democracy of Western origin. Militarily, we are witnessing successive invasions, massacres, and unprecedented military expansion. Economically, we are witnessing the end of American globalization and the scramble for and securing of resources and high technologies in the name of ‘economic security’. And in conjunction with the ‘artificial intelligence revolution’, we see lots and lots of unemployment forced on workers and terrible impoverishment of toiling people. - With naked barbarism and inhumanity, authoritarian states and giant monopolies are strutting about boldly in the world, while trampling on the toiling masses. This newly created darkness deepening in the contemporary world must definitely be broken through by a powerful surge of resolute uprisings and counterattacks of the outraged proletarian people all over the world.

In Ukraine, the war of aggression launched by detestable Putin has been continued for four years. Against the Russian invaders, Ukrainian militant workers are fighting unyieldingly while expressing solidarity with the people of Gaza as well as those of Venezuela. The atrocities of those warmongers in Ukraine, in Gaza, and in Venezuela are allowed because the struggle of the workers and people of the world to stop them is decisively weak.

Now is the time for workers and toiling people all over the world to rise up! Let us stand in solidarity with the fighting people of Venezuela, of Ukraine and of Gaza! Let us immediately launch a struggle to ‘condemn the US military attack on Venezuela’, ‘condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine’, and ‘condemn Israel’s genocide against the people of Gaza’! Let us create a huge torrent that will overturn this world of darkness!